8BitClassics

http://www.8bitclassics.com

Printing Your Own Atari Cartridge Labels

So you’ve decided that you wanted to print your own Atari labels. Whether for the Atari
2600, 5200, or 7800, our labels will fit all standard Atari cartridge cases! Some of the great
uses for creating your own labels are:

Homebrewers – Making your own game and have the cartridge, but you would like a
nice label to go with.
Missing Label – Do have any games in your collection that are missing the labels,
print up a new one.
Reproduction Label – Easily reproduce standard Atari labels with the help of our
Photoshop Templates.
Special Gift – Do you know somebody that is an Atari fan? Create a new label
specialized for them. Add a picture, name, or signature!

8-Bit Classics offer a wide range of label stock. This includes standard matte, gloss laser,
gloss inkjet, and silver. Make sure you pick the best label for your needs.

8-Bit Classics also offer printing services on a high quality color laser printer. You get great
printing quality in any quantity that you need. The best part about color laser printing is that
the label won’t smudge or smear like the inkjet labels do. Also gives your label great image
quality.

Now, you will need a few items before we get going.

We have templates for Avery Dennison’s DesignPro 5. They make a free limited
version that gives most of that same functionality as the pro version, but is all you need to
get printing. Download DesignPro 5 Limited at http://www.avery.com.
Photoshop would be a great help, but if you don’t have a copy, you can also use Paint
Shop Pro or GIMP, or Paint.Net are also great programs to use. Paint.Net is completely free
and can be downloaded at http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/. You can download a trial
copy of PaintShop Pro at http://www.corel.com or download GIMP for free at
http://www.gimp.org.
RAR extraction software is required for opening the template files. You can
download WinRAR at http://www.rarsoft.com.
AtariAge has fonts that can be downloaded that reproduce the different original fonts
used on the different Atari cartridges. Download them at
http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/AtariFonts/.
Download the sample files from 8-Bit Classics. This includes the DesignPro
templates, Photoshop templates, sample labels, and more.

Now onto the instructions!

 PhotoShop Templates

We have spent an extensive amount of time reproducing standard Atari label layouts.
Below you will find links to these files in our forums. These files are in standard
Photoshop format and will require Photoshop, Paint.Net, Paintshop Pro, or GIMP to open.
Please see first page on where to download PaintShop Pro and GIMP. We have also
created a template in Paint.Net.

First, please make sure you have the fonts from AtariAge installed on your computer.
Again, please see first page for link. These fonts are required to make the labels look
authentic. If they are not installed, then the label templates layout will change.

Use the templates for what they are, templates. They are there to help and give direction.
Make changes as you see fit. What I might like is not always something that somebody else
likes. If you make a change, you can always go back and try again.

Reason we use Photoshop for the templates is for couple of reasons. The main reason is it
uses layers. While other graphics formats use layers like TIF and PNG, I felt that
Photoshop is industry standard and users can always use an alternative program to edit the
files like GIMP which is free.

Label Templates:

We reproduced that standard black label, text label, and silver label. This includes the top
label and end label for the cart. We will be working on the maroon labels at a later date, but
they will be added to the below link.

http://www.8bitclassics.com/ and click the Forums link, and look in the separate Atari
2600/5200/7800 forums.

.
 Dimensions for Labels

The printing dimensions for the top label are 975 x 1163. The actual label
dimensions are 825 x 1013. The difference is the requirement of a bleed area.

Printing bleed is a way to simulate printing to the edge of the label. The label sheet
and the Avery template dimensions are setup to allow for a ¼” bleed area. All
important text and graphics should be within the 825 x 1013 pixel area. If you want
to make sure graphics and such are at the edge, they should extend to the 975 x
1163 bleed area. Please see below graphics as an example.

The label sample would be just enough to fit the label. If the printer prints off just a
tad off in one direction, you would show white space on the label. This would be the
825 x 1013 actual label dimensions.
Now see how the black is all the way around an extra ¼”. This will make sure when
printing, that there is something printed on the entire label and no white space. This
is an example of the 975 x 1163 dimension for printing the label.

Keep all your important text and images within the 825 x 1013 area. You can have
background images (non-important) extend past to allow a nice affect.

For the end label actual dimensions are 825 x 150 for the label, but the printing
dimensions are 975 x 300.

The easiest thing to do when creating a label is to create the initial image size to the
actual dimension size (825 x 1013 or 825 x 150), do your layout work of
text/graphics. Then expand your canvas to the larger size (975 x 1163 or 975 x
300). Now put in your background images and extend the background color.
 Reproduction / New Labels

At 8-Bit Classics, we spent an extensive amount of time reproducing some standard Atari
labels and created some new ones for you to enjoy. We have also taken requests from our
users and helped them get what they needed help reproducing/creating.

Couple Examples:

A user wasn’t happy with the standard label that was on the Atari 7800 version of Double
Dragon and wanted one that would match more closely to something Atari would have
produced. We used our template, found a nice scan of the box art, slowly edited and cleaned
up the scan and made the label for them. You can see the image using the Atari 7800 link
below.

Another example wanted to create an Atari 2600 Pac-Man USB Thumb Drive. So we
recreated the Pac-Man label for them and printed it off on our color laser. Here is the
link so you can see it for your self. http://www.blueharvestcds.com/pacman/

The labels that are posted in our forums are full quality, ready to print images that you
can use on your own labels or request us to print.

Examples:

http://www.8bitclassics.com/ and click the Forums link, and look in the separate Atari
2600/5200/7800 forums.

We are hoping that others who have used the template and created their own labels will
post them in our forums. If you create your own, please share your work and post them
for others to enjoy. Our direct forum URL is http://www.8bitclassics.com/forum.
Printing Labels

For printing labels, make sure you have downloaded Avery’s DesignPro 5. Now go to
Custom Template, click create and use the following information:

Item Number:

A2600TOPName: A2600 Top LabelPanel

Shape: Rounded Rectangle (this actually doesn't matter as we have a bleed area)
Round Corners: 0.10"

horizontal vertical
# of panels 2 2
Page Size 8.50" 11.00"
Page 1.00" 0.56"
Margin
Panel Size 3.25" 3.87"
Panel
0.00" 2.25"
Spacing

Save, now create another new template:

Item Number:

A2600ENDName: A2600 End LabelPanel

Shape: Rounded Rectangle (this actually doesn't matter as we have a bleed area)
Round Corners: 0.10"

horizontal vertical
# of panels 2 2
Page Size 8.50" 11.00"
Page 1.00" 4.69"
Margin
Panel Size 3.25" 0.81"
Panel
0.00" 0.12"
Spacing

Again, click save.

Now select one of the templates you want to try out.

Now the easiest way to insert the image is by going to Insert > Image from file. Locate your
file and open it into DesignPro. Right click on the image and select Size to Template. This
will fit the image to the exact space quickly for you.

Now the most important thing you can do is calibrating your printer. Go to File > Calibrate
Printer and follow the instructions for calibrating your printer. This will allow you to
precisely center the images on the label stock when printing. You will need to print and
calibrate the printer by aligning the lines in the calibration sheet, and printing off the label
images on standard paper. Then visually and with a ruler figure out how they need to move
so it fits properly onto the label stock. Use the calibration sheet for the spacing. As an
example, my calibration was -0.50 (horizontal)/-1.50(vertical) for the Portrait setting. I don't
have the Landscape setting setup as the labels weren't meant to print that way. After you
think you have it aligned properly, send a label sheet thru. What is nice about DesignPro is
you can select a page or just one label (and switch which label to use). So just print one label
to see if it is centered. If not, use the calibration sheet to figure out how much space to move
it and then select another label to print (switching which label to print on).

Scanning Hints and Tips

If you plan on reproducing original labels or anything that needs to be scanned. You need to
make sure you scan it in at 300 DPI(dots per inch) or higher. This allows for near original
quality. The larger the DPI, the larger the file. This will also slow down your computer
when editing these images at higher DPI. 300 DPI offers great quality and good
performance on most computers.

Also when scanning in a picture, especially for reproduction, it is best not to use the
cartridge itself. This will make for a grainy picture when printed. What has worked best
for me is using the manual or even the box to scan instead. They will usually have the
same artwork, it will be a larger image, and the image will be directly on the scanner glass
compared to the cartridge where it is off the glass by a small bit.